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| Home Front: Politix |
| Alabama Town Wants a $375 Million Chunk of the Stimulus |
| 2009-01-10 |
| At first glance, the town of Edwardsville, Ala., with a population of 194 people, might raise a few eyebrows with its bid to receive $375 million from the economic stimulus package being assembled by Barack Obama and lawmakers in Congress. The tiny town, located near the Georgia border and 26 miles from the nearest "big city" of Anniston (population: 24,276), added 33 proposals—about two thirds of them related to "green" energy—to the list of "ready- to- go" projects assembled by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Total sum: $375,076,200. That comes out to nearly $2 million per Edwardsville resident, although E. D. Phillips, the town's representative to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, says the projects would affect a wider region that comprises about 80,000 people. That number includes residents of nearby rural areas that aren't already incorporated into towns, along with the residents of Talladega Springs (population: 124), which partnered with Edwardsville and local municipal utilities on the projects. There's certainly no denying that Edwardsville has big ambitions. Through the various proposals, which include a renewable energy museum, scenic railroad, and vineyards, these small Alabama communities envision themselves becoming a cutting-edge demonstration project for energy sustainability and a hub for tourism. Edwardsville. Come for the energy museum, stay for the hookworm... "I know we look like some little Podunk town, and by the census, we are," Phillips says. "But we really think we've done some amazingly progressive things in the past two years." Our trailer parks now have that there e-lectricity... The town's proposals began to develop more than two years ago, when Phillips and another town official became intrigued by the argument that renewable energy could create a rural renaissance. If any community needed economic revival, it was Edwardsville—even before the recession. At 28.7 percent, the town's poverty level was nearly equal to that of Nepal and more than twice the national average, according to the 2000 census. Along with the more traditional proposals to replace streetlights with solar-powered lights (cost: $3,479,200), to install solar panels on the town hall (cost: $77,000), and to build solar-powered recharging stations for electric golf carts and vehicles (cost: $620,000), Edwardsville and Talladega Springs have assembled a set of even more far-reaching projects. An outlay of $50.4 million, for example, would go toward installing water pipelines beneath roads to soak up the sun's rays, transferring heat. That technology is currently being used in the Netherlands, which found that while the cost of installation was double that of normal gas heating, the system halved the amount of energy required. And since sumbuddy else'll pay fer it, why not? With big dreams, however, come big price tags. "Do you know how hard it is to fund some of these projects when your tax base is so low?" Phillips says. "So we just breathed this sigh of relief when we found out about the stimulus package . . . especially when it had a focus on renewable energy." I had to buy me a new drool bucket... |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 Yeah DB, from what I gather Edwardsville must near the incineration site. Enterprise in LA? |
| Posted by: Beavis 2009-01-10 16:41 |
| #8 I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage. If I help him he's gonna help me. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-01-10 16:35 |
| #7 Enterprise is a long way from Edwardsville. Still, I'd consider moving there if they can pull this off. I have a proposal to make high-quality fertilizer from horse and chicken poop and to capyure the methane to use for heating. A little bit of chemistry and I could make ethylene. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-01-10 16:13 |
| #6 Edwardsville, where've I head that name before? |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-10 15:09 |
| #5 Sorry, Alabama went for McCain. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2009-01-10 12:46 |
| #4 Edwardsville. Come for the energy museum, stay for the hookworm... Not that far off monument to the Boll weevil Enterprise, Al |
| Posted by: Beavis 2009-01-10 06:21 |
| #3 I don't know. I think a nuclear reactor is pretty sustainable. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-01-10 05:44 |
| #2 "Sustainable" energy means unsustainable economically. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-01-10 04:47 |
| #1 See what happens here. It is very telling. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-01-10 04:28 |
